Facebook Pays $1B For Instagram

The cash and stock deal is the biggest to date for the social network colossus, and gives it one of the most popular smartphone photo sharing apps. After just two years, Instagram has about 30M users, almost all on iPhones — the company introduced a version for Android phones last week. The application gives users the ability to create special effects with the photos they take on their smartphones, and share the end result with others on Facebook. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on his Facebook site that he’s “committed to building and growing Instagram independently. Millions of people around the world love the Instagram app and the brand associated with it, and our goal is to help spread this app and brand to even more people.” Facebook announced the deal as it prepares to go public with a stock offering expected to raise $10B.

That’s a lot of money for a few camera filters with a bit of social media roped into it. But well done them. I think Hipstermatic is a good deal better though in terms of it’s results.

Pow • on Apr 9, 2012 11:17 am

Just don’t put timeline on instagram. Seriously. It’s terrible.

Anonymous • on Apr 9, 2012 11:17 am

I second that, emphatically

Ben • on Apr 9, 2012 11:17 am

It’s a free App. How are they ever going to monetize it to be worth a billion?

k4kafka • on Apr 9, 2012 11:17 am

Can I assume the $1 Billion includes the movie rights ?

G • on Apr 9, 2012 11:17 am

I can only guess at this, Ben, but I’d imagine Zuckerberg will develop an enhanced version of Instagram that he will charge users for downloading. It’s a standard marketing ploy. You get people hooked with a free basic version, then charge for updates that have better bells & whistles built into the software. When you look at it from that perspective, the possibilities are endless.